An Indianapolis man convicted of the 1977 murder of his former girlfriend's young son was sentenced to life in prison today.

Marion Superior Judge Lisa Borges gave the life sentence to Michael Ackerman in the 1977 killing of 21-month-old William Thomas "Billy" Wood.

Borges' sentence, based on the law in 1977, allows Ackerman to apply for parole after serving 20 years.

Ackerman, 58, was convicted in June of second degree murder — a charge that was on the books in 1977 but no longer exists — in the child's killing. He told the judge today that he planned to appeal his conviction and Borges granted his request for a public defender.

Ackerman was arrested earlier this year after an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department cold case detective reopened the investigation into Billy's death at the request of the boy's sister, Indy Jo Wood.

At a sentencing hearing this morning, Indy Jo Wood, her mother, Debra Shay, one of Billy's aunts and two cousins told the judge how the killing had affected their lives for nearly four decades.

"Every single day that I exist I am only half in the present and the other half in that day of 1977," said Wood, who was three when her brother was killed.

"There isn't a day that goes by that memories of 1977 haven't crept in to my daydreams or my thoughts. And there isn't a day that I don't see my brother screaming. And, sometimes, I see him reaching out to me.The confusion, anguish, and terror that I carried around led me to contemplating taking my own life many times. Billy wasn't the only one who died that day, a piece of that little girl died, too. "

Borges has two options for sentencing Ackerman. She could give him a term of 15 to 25 years or send him to prison for life with the possibility of parole.

Wood, now 40, witnesses the crime but had never been interviewed by police, who initially ruled the death an accident. For nearly 37 years, she was haunted by her faint childhood memories and tried once before, unsuccessfully, to get police to reopen the case.

After the sentencing she praised the work of IMPD Sgt. David Ellison, the cold case detective who listened to her request to reopen the case and built a case against Ackerman.

Wood also called on IMPD to do more to support the cold case unit, which has recently dwindled to just one officer.

"The system failed us tremendously in 1977. In my opinion the detective and coroner's office failed us but the cold case unit and the prosecutor's office, namely Denise Robinson and Det. David Ellison picked up the pieces for my family and helped us get justice: the justice we desperately needed and deserved," Wood said outside the courtroom.

"So, I ask, why this department has hundreds of (cold) cases and only one person to work them. Why are all these cases sitting there without investigation and resolution? Why can't more resources be brought to look into these cases? Consider the loss and damage to our society when these victims have no voice and families are left to suffer without recourse?"

In proclaiming Ackerman guilty in June, Borges said the limited direct evidence that remained nearly four decades after the killing and the circumstantial evidence sealed the conviction.

"There was only one adult in that apartment when Billy sustained the fatal injuries," the judge said. "There was only one person who had the ability to deliver that kind of injury."